How long does the N600K process take? Can we make it?

Hello,
I need some info on the N600K process. Here is the background: My brother-in-law is an Italian living in Italy. He and my sister adopted 2 kids (at 18 mos and 6 mos.) who are currently 15 and 16 years old. My sister passed away last year and wanted the kids to have U.S. citizenship, tho they will continue to reside with their dad in Italy. We seemed to get conflicting information about what process to use and it seemed the N600K was the way to go. We plan to use the grandmother as the "sponsor", using her 86 years of U.S. residency to fulfill requirements. My bro-in-law completed the N600K sections related to the kids, we have all the necessary papers we think and have had everything translated notarized etc. We will be applying to the Denver office if that makes a difference.

So the huge problem is timing. We have not turned in N600K yet, I just received the papers from them and am still missing the photos. I expect to turn them it in in a week. Meanwhile they want to come in late August to mid Sept. Is there any way the N600K will be processed in that time so that they will get to the interview stage? Also if it turns out that they just have to go home and come back next year, will the applications be kept, can we continue where we left off? And more importantly will they lose their $420.00 each that we will have sent in with the app.? Should we be using some other process?

Hello,
So the huge problem is timing. We have not turned in N600K yet, I just received the papers from them and am still missing the photos. I expect to turn them it in in a week. Meanwhile they want to come in late August to mid Sept. Is there any way the N600K will be processed in that time so that they will get to the interview stage? Also if it turns out that they just have to go home and come back next year, will the applications be kept, can we continue where we left off? And more importantly will they lose their $420.00 each that we will have sent in with the app.? Should we be using some other process?

Thanks in advance for your help!

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It seems unlikely that an N-600K submitted at the end of July could be scheduled for an interview so quickly.
However, I did not understand most of the rest of your question.
Once N-600K is submitted, it will be processed and will continue to be processed no matter how many times the applicant(s) visit the U.S. in the interim.
If the kids come here in August and leave in September, there will be absolutely no need for you to submit new N-600K applications for them. The ones you are about to submit now will still be processed. You will not have to resubmit them and you will not have to pay another application fee.
The worst that could happen is that they'll have to come to the U.S. again, for the interview(s), and pay for the extra travel associated with that.
I assume the kids have Italian passports, right?

It seems unlikely that an N-600K submitted at the end of July could be scheduled for an interview so quickly.
Once N-600K is submitted, it will be processed and will continue to be processed no matter how many times the applicant(s) visit the U.S. in the interim . . . and you will not have to pay another application fee.
I assume the kids have Italian passports, right?

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yes the kids have passports (or they are on their father's)

I appreciate your answers I was really worried they would lose their money and app and have to start over. I have few other questions too.
--I wondered if anyone had experience with the particular N600K application and if it was processed any faster? It seems it should be faster since they know kids live now and will continue to reside in another country.
--What happens if USICS make them an interview appointment, and they are not in the country, can they say that and reschedule it for, say, 2 months later when they can come back?
--Is the time gap between interview and oath a long time?
--does the granmother need to be in interview? Can I go to interview ? I would be translator of sorts for everyone.

I appreciate your answers I was really worried they would lose their money and app and have to start over. I have few other questions too.
--I wondered if anyone had experience with the particular N600K application and if it was processed any faster? It seems it should be faster since they know kids live now and will continue to reside in another country.
--What happens if USICS make them an interview appointment, and they are not in the country, can they say that and reschedule it for, say, 2 months later when they can come back?
--Is the time gap between interview and oath a long time?
--does the granmother need to be in interview? Can I go to interview ? I would be translator of sorts for everyone.

--will they be asked to give up their italian citizenship?

thanks again for help anyone offers....

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USCIS rarely expedites any application, and it is only done in extremely compelling cases where time is of critical importance (e.g. in some age-out eligibility cases).
N600K are not likely to fall into that category unless one of the kids is about to turn 18.

When they send an interview appointment notice, it'll be for a few weeks after the notice date, so that you'll have time to arrange for travel by the kids to the U.S.
It will also be possible to request a postponement of the interview (the interview notice will explain how), although I would strongly recommend against it, unless it is a life and death issue. Any time an interview is rescheduled, it delays the process by several month. Also, when you request a postponement, you cannot request a new specific date. The application just goes back into the appointment queue.
I don't believe the grandmother needs to be present at the interview, but I am not sure. You'll have to ask USCIS this.
I am fairly sure an adult (e.g. a parent) may be present. Typically a translator is allowed but you would have to supply a translator yourself; USCIS will not provide one.
No, as far as the U.S. law is concerned, they will not lose the italian citizenship, although the text of the oath may include some wording to the effect of renouncing other allegiances. The oath text is somewhat arcane and in practice multiple citizenship is allowed by the U.S.
You should, however check with the Italian authorities what the effect of accepting the citizenship of another country may be.

Regarding the oath, I may be wrong, but my understanding is that for N-600K cases, the naturalization oath is typically administered at the conclusion of the interview and the certificate of citizenship is given right then and there as well. You should contact USCIS and ask them these questions directly.
N600K is a topic rarely discussed in this forum so I doubt you'll hear from somebody with direct experience regarding N600K here.

I sent an N-600K on May 17th. I got an Request for Further Evidence (RFE) letter dated June 9th. It had a strongly worded deadline that I must respond with all documents in 33 days (and then stated July 9th as the deadline) or my application would be abandoned.

The letter was stamped June 16th, postmarked June 30th and received July 22nd.

baikal3, thank you so much for all this useful and detailed information, I am very grateful for your help! My bro-in-law and I now realize that they really can't come and sit here and wait for the interview notice, and they should just make travel arrangements as you say, when the notice is received. That took a lot of pressure of us. I will ask the USCIS those questions as you have suggested, but it is good to have your opinion in the back of my head before I start asking them.

I have another couple of important questions I came up with while I was filling out the form this weekend: I'm not sure if you are familiar with the form, but Part 4 is about the child's US citizen mother or father. Does that information need to be filled in if that only US citizen parent is deceased and the grandmother is being the "sponsor"? Also, my sister, the US citizen mother, did live in the US the required 5 years , 2 after age 14, but we are using the grandmother, is this fine? After figuring it was all along, one place I was reading sounded like it was saying you only use the grandparent if the US citizen parent could NOT meet the residency requirements. I guess I have a third question I'll ask: I was filling in the paperwork for the grandmother, and the bro-in-law did all the kids stuff and signed as the preparer in part 8. Do you think I should copy that part 8 and sign as another preparer? I worry that talking to bro-in-law involves a little language difficulty, and talking to my mother, frankly will be useless, she really can't give answers etc., so my phone numbers would be most useful. for communications on the apps. (I have power of attorney for my mother if that is relevant.)
This is a lot of questions, thanks again

baikal3, thank you so much for all this useful and detailed information, I am very grateful for your help! My bro-in-law and I now realize that they really can't come and sit here and wait for the interview notice, and they should just make travel arrangements as you say, when the notice is received. That took a lot of pressure of us. I will ask the USCIS those questions as you have suggested, but it is good to have your opinion in the back of my head before I start asking them.

I have another couple of important questions I came up with while I was filling out the form this weekend: I'm not sure if you are familiar with the form, but Part 4 is about the child's US citizen mother or father. Does that information need to be filled in if that only US citizen parent is deceased and the grandmother is being the "sponsor"? Also, my sister, the US citizen mother, did live in the US the required 5 years , 2 after age 14, but we are using the grandmother, is this fine? After figuring it was all along, one place I was reading sounded like it was saying you only use the grandparent if the US citizen parent could NOT meet the residency requirements. I guess I have a third question I'll ask: I was filling in the paperwork for the grandmother, and the bro-in-law did all the kids stuff and signed as the preparer in part 8. Do you think I should copy that part 8 and sign as another preparer? I worry that talking to bro-in-law involves a little language difficulty, and talking to my mother, frankly will be useless, she really can't give answers etc., so my phone numbers would be most useful. for communications on the apps. (I have power of attorney for my mother if that is relevant.)
This is a lot of questions, thanks again

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I don't really know much about N-600K, so my advice is a rather uninformed one. In fact, you may want to talk to an immigration lawyer before submitting N-600K, to clarify some of these issues.

From reading the instructions to N-600K, http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/n-600kinstr.pdf, it appears that Section 4, information about the citizen parent, still needs to be filled in even if the application is submitted by a grandparent or legal guardian after the parent is deceased.

I am not sure if it is completely kosher to apply on the basis of grandmother's residency if the mother actually satisfies the residency requirements as well; this seems to be contrary to the intent of the form.

However, you could still try and see what happens. You could write something like "precise dates unknown" for the question about the mother's residency in the U.S., and see how that flies at the interview. Not sure about part 8, but it is probably fine for you to sign as the preparer.

I still think you should talk to a lawyer about these things first; a phone consultation should be relatively inexpensive if you don't want to pay for an in person consultation.

JAEMM,
How crazy-how does it take a month in the mail? (unless it is going to Italy) I hope they accept your papers given you have some datestamps in your defence.

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22 days to get from the United States (Florida) to Central America. About typical. Our private courier service takes 5-7 days. I will have to change the address we gave to USCIS to the courier.

However, you did not notice the real problem! It took *them* 21 days to send the letter! Letter date June 9th, letter's U.S. postmark June 30th! It would have been nearly impossible to respond on time even if it were sent to a U.S. address.

Thanks yet again for some more good information. I think you are right about checking with a lawyer - I got some numbers and just need to make the calls. Fortunately I am now more educated about some of the process, so I can skip some of the questions.